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Scotsman and I set out with a plan-as you-go destination and ended up at Sourdough Gap. The route goal was to avoid any exposure to hanging cornices. The snow was firm and not always smooth. The higher we traveled the softer the snow surface became, but not real deep, an inch or two on the surface. There is a brief walking period out of the Crystal Parking lot to the snow. The last week's heat wave really effected the snow. Two or three feet of snow is gone. If you want to ski East Peak it will require a walk to at least the upper trailhead. Only the top third of Gold Hills Lift has snow now.

Nice sky turned to spitting rain on our approach to Sourdough Gap, then turned into an all out squall on our return. Telemetry showed .27 inch of precip in the period we were trying to get back. Thank goodness for Pack-Lite Gore Tex. The rain helped slightly soften the snow surface and the skiing was good to marginal.

One warning is that the cornices are falling. Scotsman saw a good one drop in Moorse Creek area. But looking out to Chinook pass, there were several cornices that dropped and the weight created a fracture in the snow resulting in large slides.So there is a subsurface layer that has not quite become part of the overall base on North faces.

Thanks for the tour Joe. Learnt some new places to ski in th eCrystal BC and did my first desecent of Joe's Badass Shoulder

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Chief Etiquette Officer of TAY and TAY's #1 PosterPoet Laureate of TAY.Chairman and Founder of FOTAY( Friends of TAY)Moderator of the moderators."Most Brilliant Move" of the 11/12 ski season" Knows what he is talking about"Expert Typist.Crystal Whore" Scotsman may be correct"....Mikerolfs